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Newsman Peter Mehegan 'Chronicles' his career at Leominster breakfast

By Jack Minch, jminch@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
11/17/2012 07:02:07 AM EST

LEOMINSTER -- Veteran television newsman Peter Mehegan got the bug for the news business working as a copy boy at the old Boston Traveler newspaper and from there went on to a career in radio and television.

Mehegan was the featured guest at the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce's bimonthly breakfast program Friday at Four Points Sheraton, where he was interviewed by Leslie DelMonaco of the Century 21 Real Estate Team.

Massachusetts residents often remember Mehegan for his cool demeanor and silky voice traveling around New England in his 1969 Chevrolet Impala looking for feature stories for "Chronicle," WCVB-TV's news magazine.

After working for the Traveler in high school, he went to Boston University, where he worked on its radio station.

"For me, that was how I was able to develop the skills I put to use professionally," he said.

Mehegan worked at radio and TV stations before a domino effect of events led to his job on "Chronicle."

News anchor Tom Ellis left for New York with little warning and Chet Curtis took his job, which left an opening on "Chronicle" in 1982.

"They came to me and said we want you to do 'Chronicle' for two weeks, and that turned into 23 years," Mehegan said.

"Chronicle" started as another way to give serious coverage to news events before cable television, he said.

He never tried to be too aggressive with his interviews.

In fact, he wouldn't call it an interview, he would only ask to talk with somebody for a while.

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"It was the old, get your foot in the door like the Fuller Brush guy," Mehegan said.

The show's producers wanted fresh ideas when Mehegan suggested traveling the back roads of New England looking for stories in a Chevy he had rusting away in the back yard.

His children had used the car during their college years but Mehegan volunteered to drive it around if the station would get it running again.

"It still smells of Budweiser on a hot day," Mehegan joked.

He ended up doing 75 half-hour segments from Maine using the car.

Mehegan has the car in storage and drove a Subaru to Friday's breakfast.

"I still occasionally take it out in the good weather and tool around," he said.

His work took Mehegan around the world.

He recalled interviewing an Israeli soldier and separately a young Palestinian who was shot during a demonstration.

"It made me realize how mixed up it was because the Palestinian kid was a Christian," Mehegan said after the breakfast.

He recalled traveling around the country on assignment with Pope John Paul II in 1979.

"He was a very nice man, very delightful and totally at ease with the media," Mehegan said.

There was a time he was sitting at a cafe with his cameraman in Nice, France, and Bill Cosby was at the next table.

He told the cameraman they had the best job in the world.

Mehegan left the anchor desk at "Chronicle" six years ago, though he continued to do features for awhile.

Now he does voice-over work, corporate videos and guest appearances.

Dave Oriol said he enjoyed Mehegan's stories.

"It was fantastic," Oriol said. "Her personalized his career, and 'Chronicle' is a very local show."

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